Image of the Liver

Anatomy of the liver. The liver is in the upper abdomen near the stomach, intestines, gallbladder, and pancreas. The liver has four lobes. Two lobes are on the front and two small lobes (not shown) are on the back of the liver.

Specialties & Treatments

The treatment or combination of treatments each patient has depends on the stage of the cancer, recommendations of the care team, and the patient’s wishes. These are the most common types of treatment for liver cancer:

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Causes & Risk Factors

Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean you are sure to get cancer. It means your chances are higher than the average person’s. Talk with your doctor to learn more about your cancer risk. These are risk factors for liver cancer:

Infection with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C

Cirrhosis of the liver caused by any of these things:

Hepatitis infection

Drinking large amounts of alcohol for several years

A long-lasting liver injury

Metabolic syndrome, a set of conditions that happen together, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, extra fat around the abdomen, high triglycerides, and low levels of high-density lipoproteins in the blood

Hemochromatosis, a condition where the body stores more iron than it needs in vital organs

Eating foods with aflatoxin, a poison that comes from fungus that can grow on improperly stored grains and nuts

Laboratory tests: Through testing body tissues, blood, urine, or other substances in the body, your health care team can check to see how the liver and other organs are functioning. They can also look for substances that cells produce when cancer is present.

Ultrasound: This procedure uses high-energy sound waves to create a picture of the internal organs.

Biopsy: The health care provider removes cell or tissue samples so they can be viewed under a microscope to check for signs of cancer.

Stages of Liver Cancer

Stages of cancer show whether cancer has spread within or around the liver or to other parts of the body. Cancer spreads in the body in three ways: through tissue, the lymph system, or the blood.

These are the stages used for liver cancer:

Stage 0: Very early

Stage A: Early

Stage B: Intermediate

Stage C: Advanced

Stage D: End-stage

When cancer spreads from where it started to another part of the body, it is called metastasis. These metastatic cancer cells are the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. For example, if liver cancer spreads to the bone, the cancer cells in the bone are actually liver cancer cells. The disease is metastatic liver cancer, not bone cancer.